


Drabble: Aloft

by likebunnies



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Partnership
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 12:37:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4479500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likebunnies/pseuds/likebunnies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abbie watches on as Crane experiences a first. </p>
<p>Set before my story <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/3658371"><strong>And Only Time Will Heal My Woe</strong></a> but you don't have to read that to read this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drabble: Aloft

“You okay?” Abbie asked one more time. Crane looked at her and nodded, his eyes opened incredibly wide with delight. 

“This is incredible,” he said, looking like a child on Christmas morning. 

“Remember, there's going to be a lot of noise at first. Maybe some shimmying and shaking. The lights will be turned down... I don't know why. There must be a reason,” she said, taking hold of his hand that was nearest to her. “And that this happens 23,000 times a day in the United States alone.”

“I'm not worried, Lieutenant, but I appreciate your facts and figures,” Crane said, looking forward and then turning to her again when she squeezed his hand. 

“Just checking. The first time can be a little scary,” Abbie added. 

“I've been in combat, Miss Mills. With cannons. I do believe I can handle this. Besides, I've been studying up on Bernoulli's principle,” he said with a matter-of-fact tone. 

“And that applies to this?” Abbie asked. Physics wasn't necessarily her thing in high school and that definitely sounded like physics. He gave her that look he'd give people when they didn't know something that he seemed to think they should know. Like some stupid fact about Washington's teeth or Franklin's jock itch. 

“Bernoulli's principle can be used to calculate the lift force on an airfoil, if the behavior of the fluid flow in the vicinity of the foil is known. For example, if the air flowing past the top surface of an aircraft wing is moving faster than the air flowing past the bottom surface, then Bernoulli's principle implies that the pressure on the surfaces of the wing will be lower above than below,” he said rather quickly. 

“Hold up a moment, professor. You memorized that off of Wikipedia, didn't you?” Abbie asked. 

“Yes, of course I did. Did you think I was going to find it in Washington's bible? Man hadn't taken to the air at that point,” he said. 

At least this trip gave him something to think about other than the events of the last year, Abbie considered. It was hard enough getting him a passport and coming up with the money for this so she was glad he was enjoying it so far. 

“Excuse me, sir? Is your seatbelt fastened and pulled tight?” a flight attendant asked. Crane moved his coat far enough for her to see that indeed it was. 

“As if this would save me should we go plummeting out of the sky –”

“He's fine. His seatbelt's fine. My seatbelt is fine. We're all good,” Abbie interrupted, and the flight attendant moved off to check on the next row. “Do you want to get kicked off before we get anywhere? We aren't going to plummet out of the sky, Crane. These things rarely plummet out of the sky.”

“I know that, Miss Mills. I looked up the facts and figures on the Wikipedia and this journey across the ocean is statistically safer than our journey from Sleepy Hollow to your JFK,” he said. 

“Good to know.” 

The pilot came on and told them they were going to begin to taxi out to the runway but they might be delayed for a couple of minutes and did the usual pilot speech. Crane hung on his every word and then nodded his head again when he was done speaking. The plane began to push away from the gate and moved backward shortly before they could start moving forward toward the runway. For a couple of minutes, it felt no different than being on a very big bus with a very expensive seat as it it rolled away from the airport. 

Then they were stopped at the start of the runway and since Abbie knew what was coming next, she watched Crane as he experienced this for the first time. The engines revved to speed and made an incredible noise. The pilot released the break and they set off down the runway, and in a few seconds, they were aloft and climbing. The wheels were retracted, making a new noise and the cabin did shake a bit, but Crane never took his eyes off of his view out of window. Abbie was glad she got him that seat. Like she'd have any other choice. 

They were approaching cruising altitude before he dared take his eyes off of the window and look around the cabin and at her. 

“This is fantastic! How can these people be so blasé about this absolute miracle! Look at them all reading their newspapers and trying to find a movie. Everyone here should be amazed that they are in a metal tube flying over an ocean. Had they all had to make this journey on a ship – a ship with sails, even! – then, then they wouldn't be this way. They'd be amazed!” Crane pontificated. 

“We'll see how you feel after eight hours of sitting in here,” Abbie said, already growing a bit tired of staying seated.

“I should be long dead, Lieutenant. I should have never had experienced this or smart phones or karaoke or... or... you. I'm certain I'm going to be amazed even after eight hours,” he said, smiling the first genuine smile she had seen in a long time. Abbie moved the armrest so it was no longer between them and rested her head upon him. He turned to look out the window once more as they soared through the clouds. He was still holding her hand, though. Through the whole experience, he never let her go. 

Maybe eight hours like this wouldn't be bad at all. 

The End


End file.
